Method and apparatus for encouraging social networking through employment of facial feature comparison and matching

ABSTRACT

A social networking site providing facial similarity matching services to subscribers to the social networking site. A subscriber may upload a digital image of himself and have it compared to digital images of other member subscribers using software to interpret points of comparison on each digital image. Subscribers may effect the outcome of the matching process by designating a selection of images as close matches from a computer generated plurality of matching images. A collage of finally matched images is provided to the inquiring subscriber as well as contact information to communicate with the other subscribers.

This application is a Continuing application to U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/764,087 filed on Apr. 20, 2010 which claims the benefit ofProvisional Patent Application No. 61/170,977 filed on Apr. 20, 2009,both incorporated herein in their respective entirety by this referencethereto.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to social networking amongstindividuals having a similarity in appearance but who are not related.More particularly, the disclosed method and apparatus relates to anonline service which allows subscribing users in a social network toinput facial photos of themselves for comparison with other subscribersappearances for similarity. The inquiring subscriber is then presentedwith one or a plurality of people and/or profiles of person's having asimilar facial appearance.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

For ages, people have been fascinated with the possibility they may havea twin or double existing somewhere in the world population. With theadvent of photography and more modernly, digital photography, theinterest in the concept of having a double has only increased due to thesheer number of available photographs of people in publications and onthe internet.

In previous decades, it would take many hours to physically searchphotos of people and compare them to the characteristics in a photo orphotos of a person wanting to seek a possible twin or double. However,with the advent of digitized photography and facial recognition andassociated software and algorithms, facial recognition has become ascience which employs the vast power of data processing to identify oneface among millions.

A prime reason for the employment of such digital facial recognitionsoftware and digital photography in the past has been law enforcementand security. Las Vegas casinos use a plethora of cameras on theirproperty to communicate pictures of patrons to computers and software totry and continually ascertain if people entering a casino are on a knownlist of undesirables. Most other facial recognition uses are also forsecurity purposes and employ a digital facial photo to thecharacteristics of millions of file photographs of individuals which arein a relational database. Each stored photo is associated with theperson's history and identity. A match of a captured photo of a personwith a file photo and associated profile of that person essentially isdone to ascertain if they are a security threat.

Consequently, digital photo recognition used to match captured orsubmitted photos has not been substantially employed in the task ofascertaining if a person resembles someone else who has their digitalimage stored in the database of a social networking site. While such atask would help individuals answer the age old question “do I have adouble or twin” it also has commercial potential in identifying bodydoubles for actors or finding persons with a facial structure to match,for instance, an advertiser's needs for a certain product.

Such a service would be especially fun and interesting for modern socialnetworking where online subscribers regularly search for other memberswho have commonality. People may subscribe to a social networkingprovider offering the service of matching their facial photo to othersto find people with similar appearances. Thereafter, they may actuallycommunicate with each other. Another possibility of use might be apremium service offered to subscribers which would interface with anopt-in database of photos of members of other existing social networkingservices such as Facebook or MySpace.

Social networking, using the internet, is arguably one of the biggestsuccesses of the internet over the past five years. Wildly popularnetworking sites such as MySpace, Facebook and YouTube have risen toprovide members world wide exposure for themselves to potential friends,dates, spouses and unfortunately, predators and unseemly individuals.Most such social networking sites offer subscribers the ability toupload their personal photos for display or to store in their profile.Consequently, millions of user's photos are currently stored on serversthroughout the world. With the use of an opt-in or premium contentsubscription, photos of interested third party members can be easilycompared to each other and to other social networking sites through acentral provider. In this fashion security may be maintained for eventhe opt-in users as to whether they wish to be contacted by a purportedfacial match on their own or another social networking site. Thisability for users of the service herein or other social networking sitesworking with a provider of the service herein to ascertain matches inappearance, surely would be of great interest to users and wouldencourage more social networking.

However, the major focus of most facial recognition software used todayis enhancing security and matching real time captured images to imagesand related files within a database to ascertain if a match exists basedon non-user criteria so as to simply identify the person in the capturedimage. While few providers have established methods for finding twins,no provider has undertaken the unique and very different task ofproviding a social network which provides a comparison of an inquiringsubscriber's provided photograph, immediately and/or continually, to adatabase of photos stored in memory of other subscribing members of thesocial network to find individuals in the network with similar facialappearances. Further, allowing the subscriber to input their view of thesubjective possible matches and allowing interaction between matchedindividuals on the social network has yet to be done.

A number of recent software applications and commercial firms havestarted to employ facial matching for purposes other than security. Forinstance, U.S. Pat. No. 7,450,740, (Shah et al) discloses a method andsystem for providing the general public who visit their site a means fordetermining which celebrity they may look like. However, no provisionfor the inquiring party to effect the outcome of the search is given norany ongoing social networking and communication between individualsidentified in the outcome of the subscriber requested search.

Visionics, a company based in New Jersey provides the FACEIT facialrecognition system using an algorithm in a mathematical technique toencode a proprietary database of faces. The system maps the face andcreates a faceprint. Once the system has stored a faceprint, it cancompare it to thousands or millions of faceprints stored in a database.This system, however, does not combine the service with a socialnetworking system nor does it allow subscriber input to effect theoutcome.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,805,238, (Rothfjell) teaches a Method For IdentifyingIndividuals Using Selected Characteristics of Their Body Curves.Rothfjell teaches an identification system in which major features (e.g.the shape of a person's nose in profile) are extracted from an image andstored. For an ID match of that same person, the stored features aresubsequently retrieved and overlaid on a current image of the person toverify identity. Rothfjell, however, seeks to identify the same personand to eliminate other persons who might match and to that end providesno means for social networking nor subscriber input as to the outcome.

An additional teaching is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,103 (Gotanda)which employs a type of facial recognition for a Door Lock ControlSystem. Gotanda teaches storing a provided digitized facial image in anon-volatile memory as a key to allow a person access to a secured areaif their current picture matches the stored image. However, Gotanda issimply concerned with matching a single individual's images and is notconcerned with ascertaining others who might appear similar or inallowing subscriber input to effect the outcome.

Another facial recognition method is taught in U.S. Pat. No.4,858,000(Lu). Lu teaches an image recognition system and method foridentifying a single individual from a predetermined set of individuals,each of whom has a digital representation of his or her face stored in adefined memory space. Lu does not, however, provide any socialnetworking amongst similarly appearing members nor any means for thesubscriber to initially impact the outcome of the search.

Another patent by Tal, U.S. Pat. No. 4,975,969 teaches an imagerecognition system and method which employs ratios of facial parameterssuch as distances between definable points on facial features such as anose, mouth, or eyebrow. These are measured from a facial image and areused to characterize the individual rendered to identify themsubsequently. However, no social networking and ongoing interaction isprovided nor any means for the subscriber to impact the outcome.

Another patent by Lu, U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,228, teaches an imagerecognition system and method for identifying a single individual from apredetermined set of individuals. A library of all the individuals isalso kept. Lu in this instance is still concerned with identifyingindividuals and eliminating other individuals who might have a veryclose appearance. No social networking or input of the inquiringsubscriber to effect the outcome is provided either.

Yet another prior art reference is U.S. Pat. No. 5,053,603 (Burt). Burtteaches an image recognition system using differences in facial featuresto eliminate like-appearing individuals and distinguish one individualfrom another. Burt is, however, concerned with eliminating otherindividuals who might have a similar appearance and offers no socialnetworking of like-appearing individuals since Burt seeks to eliminatethem.

Another facial recognition patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,164,992, (Turk), amethod for recognizing and identifying members of a television viewingaudience is taught. The Turk system is designed to observe a group ofpeople and identify individual persons in the group from prior photos.Thereafter, they are identified to incorporate their individualdemographics in television ratings determinations. Turk lacks anyprovision for ascertaining similarly appearing individuals nor anyongoing social networking of subscribers or for allowing the inquiringsubscriber to effect the outcome.

Still another is U.S. Pat. No. 5,386,103 (Deban) which teaches the useof a methodology for encoding a reference face of a person and storingthat reference face on a card or the like. The reference face is thenused to identify the same individual at a point of entry from a newphoto at that locale. Like the other art, Deban teaches against theemployment of software and steps to find close matches in multipleindividuals' appearance and socially networking them as subscribers.

An additional patent by Lu, U.S. Pat. No. 5,432,864 teaches the use of amethodology for encoding a human facial image and storing it on aportable memory device for later retrieval or automatic verification ofthe same individual at a different time or place. However, provisionsfor social networking are not provided. Provisions for ascertainingindividuals with a similar appearance to a subscriber of a networkingservice or for allowing the subscriber to input and effect the outcome.

U.S. Patent Publication 2005/0185060 (Neven) teaches a means to inquireabout an image using Mobile Telephones With an Integrated Camera. Nevendiscloses a system using a mobile telephone digital camera to send animage to a server which then converts the image into symbolicinformation. Thereafter, the system links associated with theserver-identified image which are provided by search engines. However,Neven does not teach any system to find similarly appearing individualson a social networking system or a system which allows subscribers tothe system to input and effect the outcome of such a search.

Another patent teaching facial recognition is Adam et al., U.S. PatentPublication 2006/0050933. Adam, however, is for a Single Image BasedMulti-Biometric System And Method which integrates face, skin and irisrecognition to provide a biometric system to later identify only thesame individual when queried.

Accordingly, there exists an unmet need for a device and method whichenables subscribers to a social networking provider to ascertain ifthere are any other persons, in their social network or on an associatedsocial network, who might look like them or actually be their twin. Sucha system should endeavor to find the most high quality matches of otherindividuals within the social network and provide the inquiringsubscriber with a set of matches. Such a system should endeavor to allowthe inquiring subscriber to provide input leading to the outcome of thesearch through their personal viewing of the initial match results andinput as to those the subscriber finds closest. Such a system shouldendeavor to find individuals with very similar appearances and eliminatefactors such as hair color, background color and photo elements whichmight effect the outcome also. Such a system should employ networkingand database and software to allow the widest distribution of theservice so that inquiring subscribers to the social network may havetheir photos compared to the largest possible collection of other facialimages. Such a method should employ networking criteria to allowinquires to come directly from subscribers or from subscribers to othersocial networking sites as an opt-in, upgrade or extra service tothereby increase the pool of images in the social networking databaseover time. Such a system should provide a collage of ascertained facialmatches for the subscriber to post on their home page for others to viewand include a linking ability for the collage if posted on other sites.Finally, such a service should also provide sufficient security measuresto insure that an inquiring subscriber to the social network is seekingtheir own double and not that of another and should only provide contactand identity information to parties finding a match if approved by allparties involved.

With respect to the above, before explaining at least one preferredembodiment of the system for facial matching of an individual to allothers in a database in detail, it is to be understood that theinvention is not limited in its application to the details ofconstruction and to the arrangement of the components or steps set forthin the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The variousapparatus and methods of the invention are capable of other embodimentsand of being practiced and carried out in various ways which will beobvious to those skilled in the art once they review this disclosure.Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminologyemployed herein are for the purpose of description and should not beregarded as limiting.

As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conceptionupon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basisfor designing of other devices, software and methods and systems forcarrying out the several purposes of the present disclosed device andmethod enabling subscribers to find other individuals with similar orvirtually identical facial appearances to their own. It is important,therefore, that the objects and claims be regarded as including suchequivalent construction and methodology insofar as they do not departfrom the spirit and scope of the present invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a networked system for socialnetworking amongst subscribing individuals which provides for inputtingdigital facial photographs of those subscribers and authorized userswhich is employed to ascertain if others in the social network, or arelated social network, have a similar physical appearance. In doing so,a database of provided images from the social networking subscribers isassembled and matches are ascertained by comparing subscriber-providedimages to look for similarities between other subscribers to the socialnetworking site who have a similar appearance. Rather than eliminatingothers and identifying a single individual as security oriented systemsdo, the disclosed system herein seeks to find a plurality of othersocial network subscribers who have physical characteristics making themlook like the inquiring subscriber. In a preferred mode of operation,the social networking system herein, operates with a captive database ofdigitized images of subscribers. However, it can operate to search adatabase of an associated social networking site to seek similarlyappearing individuals using links or ties to the other social networkingweb sites who have members that opt-in to the database being searched.In the preferred mode at present, as a stand alone social networkingwebsite and server, the system may operate under a domain name such asTwinish.com. As a stand-alone subscriber service, subscribers will enjoya social networking website where all fellow members may communicateover the internet. Such a service would be created for the purpose ofsuch communication and entertainment and for identifying other membersin the social network who have a facial appearance similar to aninquiring subscriber. The search for individuals of like-appearance maybe expanded to members of other social networking sites where photos arestored digitally through an opt-in type sign up of those members ofother sites.

Subscribers to the social networking site herein will provide profileinformation related to themselves including their digital image andvarious possible types of personal information such as their name, birthdate or password on screens prompting them to do so. Once their profileis input, the subscriber may then be provided with a screen where theyare able to upload the digital photo of themselves of their choosing. Onthe photo input screen, users are provided tips as to the best way topick the right picture that best represents the user's facial features.This is done to establish some commonality among photos for thesubsequent reviewing using software.

The subscribing user may at this point be given the option to designatevarious points on their photo by placing the cursor thereon anddepressing a key. This may be done for instance at the center of eacheye, the tip of the nose, on the eyebrows, chin and other points on theface which the software running on the computer employs to define afacial profile for the user. This facial profile is employed to matchthe user to other subscribers with such facial profiles stored inmemory. Point designation is preferred should the photo provided beblurry or lack detail or in some cases to augment the software scanningof the photo in establishing the points on the face for the facialprofile.

Point designation or person designation may also be requested of theuser if they upload a photo with multiple faces thereon. If such isascertained by the software, the user is requested to at least designatethemself in the photo and may also be asked to input targeted spotsnoted above on their fact that are used to develop the facial profile.

Research by the applicant has found that looking face-forward, withlittle facial expression, directly into the camera is the best way forsubsequently employed facial recognition software to find a directmatch. Examples of correctly formatted photos of both males and femalesmay also be provided to the users. Also, on the photo input screen maybe an example of the collage that is being created for the user.

Subsequent to uploading their images, users are directed to a “Please bepatient while your photo is scanned” screen that will display a faceshowing them how the facial recognition software is working on scanningtheir facial features into the database. The user is shown a colorrendition of the photo. However, experimentation has shown that in manyinstances, the system performs facial matches more accurately when thephoto is changed to gray scale from color for the comparison by thesoftware running on the computer. Consequently, in a preferred mode ofthe system herein, the software employed for facial matching andcomparison will first change any color digital photo to a grayscalephoto and then perform the comparison.

After that process is finished, users may be directed to another screenwhich displays the user's original photo and a second photo that willdisplay their face in a cropped fashion to show what the facialrecognition software detected. Optionally but preferred, at this pointthe user has a first chance to effect the outcome by using their optionto choose their original photo to be used in the collage or the newcropped photo displaying only their face. Since the user has beenlooking in mirrors for years and knows their own face, it is felt thatallowing the user to input changes to the photo to be examined to bestshow their true appearance is a step that provides matches later onwhich will be closer to the appearance of the user.

Also optional but preferred, the user has a second chance to input andeffect the outcome of the search. This is provided when the systemdisplays a plurality of other images of other members, such as five, ofthe best matches found through the service's database. An expandingdatabase of subscribers and associated subscribers to social networkingsites will yield the best and largest amount of matches since the moreregistered users in the database comparing images, the closer thematches will be.

In this optional but preferred step, out of the plurality of matchesdisplayed to the user, the user has the ability to choose the top facesthat they feel are their best matches by placing a check mark near theperson's profile/picture. This step is preferred since who users maythink looks like them can sometimes be subjective. The computer willpick out the best matches, but the user's eye is the one that makes theultimate decision. This choice of similarity can have a large effectduring subsequent searches as the software can save the attributes ofthe images the user felt were closest and apply those attributes inseeking matches in subsequent searches.

During the display for subscriber input on similarity to their own,under each picture presented to a user, it may show the percentage ofhow the software thought each person matched the original user and whatstate/city they live in. After the user chooses their matches from thefirst plurality presented, the list is pared of any photos thesubscriber feels were not similar. At this point the subscriber may begiven an input command to execute a “create collage” function.

At this point, another page appears on the user's display which istransmitted from the server, and shows a plurality of collages, all ofwhich display the original subscribing user along with thefaces/profiles of other subscribers they selected as their look-alikesin the previous page. Three such collages is a current favoriteprovision as it has been found to give the subscribing member enoughchoices to make a difference in appearances but not so many as to makethe choice impossibly hard. The subscribing user may choose one of thecollages and its decorative designs. Each of the three collage templatespresented to the subscribing user contains the same faces/profiles ofthe other subscribers they selected in the previous screen as their bestmatches. However, each template is a little bit different from the othergiving the user a little bit of variety in their choice of the collagewhich will be posted to their home page on the social network and may beemployed as a hot link to their social network home page on other sitessuch as Facebook or MySpace.

When this collage is created, a stamp of the Twinish.com logo ispositioned in the upper right hand corner or somewhere else that isreadable. This file can then be saved to the user's computer, or it canbe directly uploaded to their MySpace, Facebook, Twinish, etc. socialnetwork accounts to show their matches to others and to allow a link totheir homepage on their social networking site.

Once registered and matched, subscribers to the social networking siteherein will find that their providing website becomes much moreinteractive and keeps them wanting to return. The provider for thesocial networking site will provide users the ability for socialinteraction between the user, other friends who are subscribers, andwith the people from the photos which they choose as their look-alikes.This interaction is best done by requiring consent by all parties.

After the collage has been created and their identification informationstored, the user will be able to add more information to their personalprofile. In their profile they may fill out as much or as littleinformation as they choose. They can also add more pictures to theirprofile, but there can only be one picture that essentially is their“collage” picture that was used for the facial recognition.

At this point in the system, a permission stage occurs and the user canmake a choice of whether or not they would like to interact with theother look-alikes. They can email their look-alikes, post a comment ontheir wall, or view any information they have posted on their profile.

The “look-alike” portion of the facial recognition can operate forsecurity purposes, as the pass-key to be able to talk with one another(if their matches don't come up when the software is run, then the usercan't talk with them or add them to their profile). If they would liketo add their friends and family to interacting parties, the users can doso by simply searching for them, then sending an add request (unlike the“look-alike” pass-key portion where they are added automatically).

Also provided in the preferred mode of the system is a “what are youdoing right now?” status bar which can be filled out at any time locatedin the center of the page to post up to the minute comments just likeFacebook or Twitter.

The system operates to achieve matches on an ongoing basis since everysecond of everyday new faces are being added to the database. Thisallows the previously registered subscribers and ongoing users to get anupdate of possibly newer and better matches. This ongoing search can begreatly effected by the subscribers input as to what are the closestmatches to themselves by using the facial attributes of the photos thesubscribing user chose subjective as similar. The subsequent searchescan occur subsequent to the user's collage being formed, when otherusers join and the software ascertains a new match of the user to a newsubscriber. When that occurs, the user who has been a member willreceive an email stating a new member has registered and a matchoccurred with a message such as “Someone that looks like you has justregistered on www.twinish.com!” Of course the subsequent subscribinguser's input when asked as to closest results will effect the match toearlier and subsequent users.

Where the subscriber is identified as similar to another subscriber fromtheir search, the subscriber will be notified and will be offered aclick through to the link to see how close of a match has occurred.After the previous subscribing user views the new face match to the newmember, they can then decide whether or not the would like to add thenew match to their own profile/collage page. If the prior registereduser decides to add them, then, based on the percentages of match, thenew match would be moved up or down on the prior user's profile page (innumeric order, based on the highest to lowest percentage). However, theoriginal 3 people that were selected when the user created the profilewill also be kept.

By continually searching for, and adding new matches, and employing theinput by subscribing users as to characteristics they consider matchingin the first group of photos provided in a search, the results moreclosely resemble the subscribing user. As new subscribers are added, orif large social networking sites like FACEBOOK allows their members toprovide photos for use and comparison, the providing server and sitegrows exponentially in a process that is perpetual.

The foregoing has outlined, rather broadly, the more pertinent andimportant features of the facial comparison and matching method andsystem herein, in order that the detailed description of the inventionthat follows may be better understood so that the present contributionto the art may be more fully appreciated. It should be appreciated bythose skilled in the art, that the conception and the disclosed specificembodiments herein, may of course be readily utilized as a basis forproviding other facial matching services for subscribers and authorizedusers for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. Itshould also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalentsystems and methods are considered within the spirit and scope of theinvention as set forth herein.

THE OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an easilyaccessible social networking site which allows user subscribers to inputtheir image digitally and have it compared to millions of stored imagesof other subscribers to the social network who are looking for a matchto provide a plurality of such matches.

It is an additional object of this invention to provide such a system ofindividual appearance-matching that may be employed as an opt-in servicein conjunction with other social networking systems already inexistence.

A further object of the facial matching social networking system hereinis the provision of a user input option as to facial similarityascertained by the software so as to improve ultimate results.

An additional object of the invention is for software adapted to thetask, running on the provider server, to generate a collage of fellowsocial networkers and the subscribing user, for posting on the user'shomepage or another user page.

While all of the fundamental characteristics and features of thedisclosed facial matching software and deployment have been describedherein, with reference to particular embodiments thereof, a latitude ofmodification, various changes and substitutions are intended in theforegoing disclosure and it will be apparent that in some instance, somefeatures of the invention will be employed without a corresponding useof other features without departing from the scope of the invention asset forth.

It should be understood that such substitutions, modifications, andvariations may be made by those skilled in the art without departingfrom the spirit or scope of the invention. Consequently, all suchmodifications and variations are included within the scope of theinvention as defined herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING FIGURE

FIG. 1 depicts a flow chart of a favored mode of the system herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to FIG. 1 which is a graphic depiction of the flow of thesystem herein for social networking which includes facial matching forsimilarity to other members of the social networking site, or members ofthird party social networking sites who have provided photos and optedin for such.

In the first step for subscribers to the site, the user will visit thewebsite of the provider of the service 12. On the initial visit,subscribers will be given menu driven software screen to provide profileinformation 14 related to themselves. Such information can include butis not limited to one or a combination of their name, and/or birth date,and/or password, and to augment the eventual facial similarity matching,their hair color, skin color, and eye color may be provided.

Upon finishing registration through the input of the profile information14, the subscriber may then be provided with an input screen 15 by theserver of the provider, where they are able to designate a digital filefor uploading their digital photo 16 to the server. Concurrently theinput screen 15 may display tips for the best photo format to yield thebest matching results. Insuring a commonality of composition of theuploaded facial shot digital photo 16 of subscribers, aids the softwarein discerning facial profiles 17 and facial profile matches 18 to othersubscribers.

Software running on the computer communicating through the providersserver will examine the uploaded digital photo 16 for clarity and properformat 20 and to discern if one or a plurality of individual faces ispresent. The software also in a preferred mode of the system, changes acolor digital photo 16 to a grayscale image 22 for the software'sdiscerning of profile matches 18 between the subscribers. However thismay also be a user option if the subscriber may want to see the matchingdifferences between a color and grayscale photo comparison howeverexperimentation has shown that changing of the digital photo 16 to agrayscale from color provides the best facial matching and such is thecurrent preferred mode of the system.

If the digital photo 16 is of a group of people, or has a lot ofsurrounding objects to the image of the subscriber, the subscribing usermay at this point be given the option to designate themself from thegroup 23 and/or various objects on their uploaded facial digital photo16 by placing a targeting cursor thereon and depressing a key 24.

The software adapted to examining digital photos 16 and comparingvarious designated points 27 thereon is generally adapted to be able todiscern the required designated points 27 on the digital photo 16 toconstruct a facial profile 17 based on the spacing and otherrelationships of the designated points 27 to each other. Alternatively,the subscribing user may be given the chance to employ a targetingcursor to mark the designated points 27 upon their uploaded anddisplayed digital photo 16. Such designated points 27 requested andprovided by the subscriber can include one or a combination of a groupof facial points on any digital photo 16 which may be relationallycompared by software adapted to the task of facial recognition andcomparison. Such designated points 27 include one or a combination of,the center of each eye, the tip of the nose, points defining the lengthand curve of the eyebrows, points designating the position, length, andcurve of the lips, the center of the chin, the cheeks, points on eachear, and other points on the subscriber's face shown by the digitalphoto 16. The designated points 27, whether discerned by the software,or the subscriber, or using both sets of designated points 27, may thenbe employed by the software running on the computer to define a facialprofile 17 of each individual user based on the relationship of thedesignated points 27. Other criteria such as the personal informationentered on registration may also be employed in defining a facialprofile 17. The software-derived facial profile 17, is employed to matchthe inputting subscriber to other subscribers with such facial profiles17 already discerned and stored in memory.

Of course those skilled in the art, will no doubt realize that numerousways are commercially available to render a facial profile 17 based on adigital photo 16, and, that technology, software, and computers, areever evolving and therefor developing new ways to discern a facialprofile 17 by sheer number crunching. Consequently all such current andfuture means to examine a digital photo 16 of a face and generate afacial profile 17 for comparison to other facial profiles 17 as wouldoccur to those skilled in the art are anticipated within the scope ofthis patent. Currently the changing of the digital photo to grayscale,and subsequent discerning of a plurality of designated points 27, andrequesting the subscriber to review the software chosen plurality beforegenerating the matched group shown in the collage 31, is the preferredmode of operation. Additionally preferred is generating two sets ofdesignated points 27 with one software generated and the othersubscriber generated and thereafter employing both designated points 27sets combined from a grayscale version of the digital photo 16, alongwith the subscribe designation of matches, to arrive at the matchedgroup defined by a collage 31.

Subsequent to uploading their images, subscribers wait while softwareadapted to the task performs a facial profile comparison 26 using theone or both of the software and subscriber designated points 27 sets togenerate their facial profiles 17 and compare it to facial profiles 17of other subscribers stored in a database of such subscribers arecompared. As noted in the preferred mode, the software can change thephotos from color to grayscale which has been found to yield moreaccurate results in the subjective world of facial similarities. Inaddition to the designated points 27, the subscriber profile information14, as to their physical appearance, may also be employed by thesoftware comparing the facial profiles 17 since the text input doesprovide clues as to eye color, hair color, and other physical attributeswhich may augment the facial profile 17 developed from ascertaining thedesignated points 27 in the pixels of the uploaded digital photo 16.This combination analysis using the geometric relation of the designatedpoints 27 to each other, and if employed the profile information 14, isemployed by the software to ascertain matches to the subscriber digitalphoto 16 from amongst the stored facial profiles 17.

From the computer discerned matches, the subscribing user then may begiven a screen wherein they may choose between a software adapted photoof themself 27 and their original photo 29 as to which is used by thesoftware on the server to form a collage 31 using the online subscriberand other subscriber faces deemed similar, for display on their socialnetwork homepage. If employed, the subscriber designates in this step,which photo of themself will be combined with the ascertained similarsubscriber photos, in forming the digital photo collage 31 generated bythe software and which is placed by the software on the softwaregenerated home page for each subscriber.

As noted, in another preferred but optional step, subsequent to thesoftware derived profile comparison 26, and generation of matches to theonline subscriber, the software adapted to the task provides to thesubscriber, on their computer screen, photos of a plurality of othersubscribers 30 to the social network site, or a third party socialnetwork site which provides access to their subscriber's pictures. Thesubscriber is then offered the step of designating 33, from the providedimages of computer image matched subscribers 30, which are closest totheir own image. This designating 33 step by the online subscriberprovides the subscriber a means to influence the eventual outcome of thecomparison of facial profiles 17. This designating 33 step may beemployed over time, and in subsequent comparisons by the softwareadapted to the task of matching. Using the subscriber's input in thedesignating 33 step, the software may rate the characteristics of thefacial profiles 17 chosen by the subscriber as similar, as a factor inthe subsequent outcomes. This choice of similarity by the subscriberusing their own view of the initial results, can have a large effectduring subsequent searches as the software can save the facialattributes 17 and other attributes such as the user-input duringregistration of the images the online subscriber felt were closest, andapply those attributes as a factor or multiplier in seeking matches insubsequent searches.

At this point in the process, another page is generated on thesubscriber's display by software on the server. In this step, thesubscriber may be given an option to choose a collage 40 for display ontheir home page from a plurality of software-generated collages 40, eachfeaturing the subscriber, and faces the subscriber selected as theirclosest look-alikes in the previous step. The user may choose one of theplurality of collages 40 and the final collage 41 is generated. Thisfinal collage 41 is communicated to the subscriber and may be hot-linkedby html with the subscriber's homepage and used on their other socialnetworking pages such as MySpace or Facebook.

At this point in the system, a permission stage 44 occurs and the usercan make a choice of whether or not they would like to interact with theother determined look-alikes defined in the final collage 41. They canemail their look-alikes, post a comment on their wall, or view anyinformation they have posted on their profile.

The subscriber's presence in the final collage 41 can act as a pass tointeract with the other members pictured in the final collage 41.Members in the final collage 41 and future discerned “look-alike”subscribers may be saved in the subscriber's profile and act as keys toallow communication.

Assuming the subscriber and the other members of the final collage 41and other look-alike subscribers opt-in for communication, then thesoftware will allow communication between the various parties.

The system operates to achieve matches between facial profiles 17 on anongoing basis since people are added to the database perpetually. Thisallows the previously registered subscribers and ongoing newsubscribers, to get an update of possibly newer and better matches. Asnoted, this ongoing search can be greatly effected by the subscribersdesignating 33 step which was input as to what are the closest matchesto themselves.

Upon an initial match determination or future match, a subscriber whohas been a member will receive an email stating a new member subscriberhas registered and a match occurred with a message such as, “Someonethat looks like you has just registered on www.twinish.com! Of coursethe subsequent subscriber's designating 33 step, when input, will effectthe match to earlier and subsequent users.

By continually searching for, and adding new matches, and employing theinput by subscribing users as to characteristics they consider matchingin the first group of digital photos 16 provided in a search, theresults more closely resemble the subscribing user. As new subscribersare added, or if large social networking sites like FACEBOOK allow theirmembers to provide digital photos 16 for a comparison, the providingserver will continue to grow exponentially in a process that isperpetual.

While all of the fundamental characteristics and features of thedisclosed method and apparatus for encouraging social networking using afacial comparison and matching feature, with reference to particularembodiments thereof, have been shown and described, a latitude ofmodification, various changes and substitutions are intended in theforegoing disclosure and it will be apparent that in some instance, somefeatures of the invention will be employed without a corresponding useof other features, or steps may be rearranged for operations, withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention as set forth. It should beunderstood that such substitutions, modifications, and variations may bemade by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit orscope of the invention. Consequently, all such modifications andvariations are included within the scope of the invention as definedherein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for matching digital facial images ofsubscribers to a social network to current and newly acquired facialimages of other persons comprising the steps of: providing an accessiblewebsite for potential users of said social network; providing an inputwebpage for said potential users to register as subscribers to saidsocial network; allowing said subscribers to upload digital images to adatabase on a server for said social network with each respective saiddigital image having the face of a respective said subscriber therein;employing software adapted to the task, to designate points ofcomparison located upon said face of each said digital image; employingsecondary software, based upon said points of comparison, which isadapted to designate a respective facial profile for each said digitalimage of each said subscriber; storing said facial profiles in adatabase; comparing said facial profile of an individual inquiringsubscriber, to said facial profiles stored in said database, to therebyascertain a plurality of matching facial images, each said matchingfacial image having a respective facial profile similar to said facialprofile of said inquiring subscriber; providing said inquiringsubscriber said plurality of matching facial images; allowing saidinquiring subscriber to designate a selection from said plurality ofmatching facial images provided, which said inquiring subscriberconsiders a close match to their own respective said digital image, as amatched group of images; employing said matched group of images, andsaid digital image of said inquiring subscriber, to generate a collageimage; and providing said collage image to said inquiring subscriber fordisplay on a webpage.
 2. The method of claim 1 also including: changingsaid digital images uploaded to said server from color digital images tograyscale digital images before designating said points of comparison.3. The method of claim 2 also including: allowing individual saidsubscribers to employ a targeting cursor upon a provided display oftheir own digital image, to designate at least some of said points ofcomparison upon their own said digital image.
 4. The method of claim 3also including: applying a mathematical score to each of said selectionfrom said plurality of matching facial images; employing saidmathematical score as a determining factor in any future determinationof said matching facial images.
 5. The method of claim 3 also including:allowing other subscribers to other social networking web sites toupload said digital images to said database; and allowing individual ofsaid other subscribers to interface with said server as said inquiringsubscriber.
 6. The method of claim 3 also including: providing saidinquiring subscriber contact information for each subscriber having asaid image in said matched group of images.
 7. The method of claim 2also including: applying a mathematical score to each of said selectionfrom said plurality of matching facial images; employing saidmathematical score as a determining factor in any future determinationof said matching facial images.
 8. The method of claim 2 also including:allowing other subscribers to other social networking web sites toupload said digital images to said database; and allowing individual ofsaid other subscribers to interface with said server as said inquiringsubscriber.
 9. The method of claim 2 also including: providing saidinquiring subscriber contact information for each subscriber having asaid image in said matched group of images.
 10. The method of claim 1also including: allowing individual said subscribers to employ atargeting cursor upon a provided display of their own digital image, todesignate at least some of said points of comparison upon their own saiddigital image.
 11. The method of claim 10 also including: applying amathematical score to each of said selection from said plurality ofmatching facial images; employing said mathematical score as adetermining factor in any future determination of said matching facialimages.
 12. The method of claim 10 also including: allowing othersubscribers to other social networking web sites to upload said digitalimages to said database; and allowing individual of said othersubscribers to interface with said server as said inquiring subscriber.13. The method of claim 10 also including: providing said inquiringsubscriber contact information for each subscriber having a said imagein said matched group of images.
 14. The method of claim 1 alsoincluding: applying a mathematical score to each of said selection fromsaid plurality of matching facial images; employing said mathematicalscore as a determining factor in any future determination of saidmatching facial images.
 15. The method of claim 14 also including:allowing other subscribers to other social networking web sites toupload said digital images to said database; and allowing individual ofsaid other subscribers to interface with said server as said inquiringsubscriber.
 16. The method of claim 1 also including: allowing othersubscribers to other social networking web sites to upload said digitalimages to said database; and allowing individual of said othersubscribers to interface with said server as said inquiring subscriber.17. The method of claim 16 also including: providing said inquiringsubscriber contact information for each subscriber having a said imagein said matched group of images.
 18. The method of claim 1 alsoincluding: providing said inquiring subscriber contact information foreach subscriber having a said image in said matched group of images.